Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Archaeologist · Excavator · Scholar

Anita Walker

Anita Walker Furshpan

fl. 1969–1989 · United States

American archaeologist who co-directed the Idalion excavations with Lawrence Stager from 1971 to 1980, directed work in the Lower City, and was the first director of CAARI.

Biography

Anita Walker directed the Lower City at Idalion for nearly a decade. In 1969 G. Ernest Wright arranged for two of his Harvard graduate students, Walker and Lawrence Stager, to co-direct the excavations there10. Paul Lapp, who had chosen Idalion, drowned in 1970, and G. Ernest Wright kept the permit and left field direction to the two of them9. In the first report he named Stager and "Anita Walker Furshpan of the University of Connecticut" as Field Directors; Stager took the West Acropolis and Walker "the vast Lower City". The 1974 volume, which she co-edited, includes her survey of the Lower City with Alan M. Bieber Jr.1.

After Wright died in August 1974 she and Stager became co-directors. She supervised the fieldwork in 1973, 1975 and 1976 and they supervised 1974 and 1977 together; Pamela Gaber was associate director from 1977 to 19794. In 1976 the work covered the Lower City, Dhali-Agridhi and Teredhia near Lythrodonda, where a foundry workshop was probed5. In 1978 the team worked on the fortifications of the west terrace7. Also in 1978 she became the first director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, followed by Ian Todd in 1979 and Stuart Swiny in 19809.

She and Stager edited American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus 1973-1980 (1989), in which she wrote the chapter on the fortifications and co-wrote the Lower City domestic precinct and the summary4.

Life and work

  1. 1969
    Harvard graduate student; G. Ernest Wright arranged for her and Lawrence Stager, two of his graduate students, to become co-directors of the Idalion excavations.

    HarvardGaber 2008

  2. 1970
    Paul Lapp, who had picked Idalion as a site and was assembling a team, drowned off Kyrenia; Wright intervened to keep the permit and left field direction to Anita Walker and Larry Stager.

    CyprusDavis 1989

  3. 1971
    Pilot season at Idalion (9 Aug-4 Sep 1971). Wright (Principal Investigator) named Stager and Anita Walker Furshpan of the University of Connecticut joint Field Directors; she had oversight of the Lower City. Sponsors: ASOR and the SUNY Albany Institute for Cypriot Studies; University of Connecticut gave her research grants.

    IdalionStager et al. 1974

  4. 1972
    Full season (30 Jun-24 Aug 1972); she supervised the Lower City, with surface survey of the lower city co-written with Alan M. Bieber Jr. and chapters on Cypro-Archaic/Classical lower-city levels and a Hellenistic-Roman building near Lang's temple site.

    IdalionStager et al. 1974

  5. 1974
    Co-edited with Stager and Wright the First Preliminary Report, seasons of 1971 and 1972 (BASOR Supplement 19, per Gaber 2008).

    IdalionStager et al. 1974Gaber 2008

  6. August 1974
    Wright, project director, died; Stager and Walker became co-directors. Walker supervised fieldwork in 1973, 1975 and 1976, they jointly supervised 1974 and 1977; Gaber was associate director 1977-79 and acting field director in 1978 assisting Walker; fieldwork resumed under Stager in 1980.

    IdalionStager & Walker 1989

  7. 1975–1976
    Walker directed seasons that, in 1976 (sixth campaign, July-August; sponsors University of Connecticut, ASOR, SUNY Albany), covered Dhali-Agridhi, the central lower city of Idalion and Teredhia near Lythrodonda, where a foundry workshop with slag heap was probed (begun 1975).

    Idalion; LythrodondaKarageorghis 1977Nicolaou 1981

  8. 1977
    Seventh campaign, directed by Walker and Stager; joint mission of the Universities of Connecticut and Chicago.

    IdalionKarageorghis 1978

  9. 1978
    Eighth campaign (June-July): co-directors Pamela Gaber (Harvard, deputy), Anita Walker (Connecticut) and Larry Stager (Oriental Institute, Chicago), sponsored by ASOR, Chicago and Connecticut; work on the west terrace fortification system, with labour help from the Department of Antiquities.

    IdalionKarageorghis 1979

  10. 1978–1979
    Appointed first director of CAARI (1978); succeeded in 1979 by Ian A. Todd, then (1980) Stuart Swiny.

    NicosiaDavis 1989

  11. 1989
    With Stager edited the final report, American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus 1973-1980 (Oriental Institute Communications 24): author of the fortifications chapter, joint author of the West Lower City domestic precinct and of the Summary.

    ChicagoStager & Walker 1989

Connections

10 people
Lawrence E. StagerPamela GaberGeorge Ernest WrightNorma KershawFrank L. KouckyAlan GrahamAlan M. Bieber, Jr.Miranda C. MarvinIan A. ToddPaul CroftAnita Walker
FieldworkScholarshipColleagues

Fieldwork & employment

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

On Ancient Cyprus

1 page

Sources

  1. 1.L. E. Stager (ed.), A. Walker (ed.), G. E. Wright (ed.) (1974). American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus: First Preliminary Report, Seasons of 1971 and 1972. American Schools of Oriental Research.
  2. 2.L. E. Stager (ed.), A. Walker (ed.), G. E. Wright (ed.) (1974). American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus: First Preliminary Report, Seasons of 1971 and 1972. American Schools of Oriental Research.
  3. 3.Lawrence E. Stager (ed.), Anne M. Walker (ed.) (1989). American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus, 1973-1980. Chicago, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
  4. 4.Lawrence E. Stager (ed.), Anne M. Walker (ed.) (1989). American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus, 1973-1980. Chicago, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
  5. 5.V. Karageorghis (1977). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1976”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 101.
  6. 6.V. Karageorghis (1978). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1977”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 102.
  7. 7.V. Karageorghis (1979). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1978”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 103.
  8. 8.K. Nicolaou (1981). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1976-80”. Archaeological Reports 27.
  9. 9.Thomas W. Davis (1989). “A History of American Archaeology on Cyprus”. The Biblical Archaeologist 52, 163-169. Online
  10. 10.Pamela Gaber (2008). “The History of History: Excavations at Idalion and the Changing History of a City-Kingdom”. Near Eastern Archaeology 71. Online